Well, I went down to my home theater, turned everything on, and I heard this odd "electric" buzzing sound. If it was louder, I would have thought that I was in Dr Frankenstein's laboratory.

Anyway, it turns out that the sound (which lasted for about 3 seconds) was coming from my Sanyo Z3 projector... And then the "replace lamp" light came on right before it shut itself down... I waited 5 minutes, tried again, and same thing... Buzz sound, and "replace lamp" light....

Argh... This thing has probably 1000 hours or maybe a little more on the "2000 hour" bulb... I know that it might have never hit "2000" hours, but 50-55% of that seems short.

So, is there any respectable place online that I can get a replacement bulb for less than $290 (plus shipping) like I saw on eBay and B&H photo? I'd love to get a new projector, but that is out of the question right now, so it looks like a new lamp is my only option...

I was reading the manual for our Infocus 7205 the other day and it mentioned that once it reaches a pre determined hour mark it will display replace bulb each time at startup. I imagine its via a predetermined hour mark unless its measuring current usage or something...

Anyway that led me to believe you could just reset the lamp timer and get more use out of it until it really did burn out. I'm not sure what risks there are in this but those bulbs are not cheap!

No. That warning would come up for a minute and then go away as it continues it's power-up. My Epson has been warning me for about 8 months, but, yes, resetting the lamp hours would get rid of the annoying blue screen of impending death.

I am notlooking forward to the day that my bulb gives out on my lcd rp...

David, the only good news is that a lot of the LCD RP TVs make replacement very easy. It does cost a few hundred dollars, but on my 4-year old Panasonic, I just opened a door on the front, grabbed a handle, yanked it out and then slid a new bulb in. I expected far worse when it went out on me (Superbowl weekend last year... of all times).

yeah, I think I just have a single screw to remove on the back of the set. last time I went into the service menu and checked the bulb time was at about 2000 hours or so (after 2 years of use). I *think* my bulb is rated at about 6000 hours.. and I just looked online and saw the bulbs coudl be found for $150 to $200. I plan on getting a new TV and moving this one into the bedroom where it will be used much less... so I guess it could still be a while before I need a new bulb.